


Guilty Thought

by disillusionist9



Series: Choose Dare [33]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Herbology, Hogwarts, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 10:04:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7930516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disillusionist9/pseuds/disillusionist9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabble #33 of 100 | Ginny used Herbology as a way to cleanse her mind of the remnants of Tom Riddle, and she is wary when those she doesn't trust step into "her turf".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guilty Thought

Greenhouses one and two always had a handful of students within them during regular school hours: a Herbology class, or to tend to a group assignment, or a final year project. Not to mention, the most frequented two held the least dangerous plants, so flocks of wide-eyed first and second years could watch the older students work in safety.

Ginny realized years later, as she watched over-saturated soil ooze between her fingers, that in her first year she was likely the most dangerous thing in the greenhouse during every Herbology lesson. She also suspected if she didn't connect with the earth as much as she did, Tom would have grasped control of her mind much sooner.

The Slytherin was patient, keeping her thirsty for his quenching presence all of those months they communicated, but could not find the balance. He shifted too swiftly between dehydrating or water logging her soul to a point that she would walk away from the diary.

There was peace in a canopy of green, working with her hands and allowing her mind to focus. She didn't mind that none of her family members shared her affinity to Herbology; she had Neville and Luna who both were content to spend their time in the greenhouse with her. The shared interest was Ginny's draw to the blonde. They grew up in the same town and knew of each other, but didn't spend much time together until Hogwarts, especially when Ravenclaw and Gryffindor first years were paired together.

Saturdays not spent on the Quidditch pitch or in the stands, which were few and far between the longer she attended Hogwarts, she filled with the quiet sounds of greenhouse two. Professor Sprout was only a shout away and would sometimes appear to assist the smattering of students within her sheltered realm.

"Dearie, I'd like your assistance next Sunday, if you're available," the professor asked one sweaty afternoon. Winter threatened outside the screens, but inside, the tropical plants were humid and the temperature near stifling. "I've asked a few others, Mister Longbottom and Miss Lovegood included, for the re-potting of several plants in greenhouses four and five."

Ginny didn't hide her surprise as well as she hoped, but her hands never ceased their work. "That's where Sn-Professor Snape's potions ingredients are grown."

Professor Sprout held her comment on the momentary lack of respect for the Potions Master turned Defense Professor, and answered the question within the statement. "Professor Slughorn and Professor Snape both signed off on the list I provided them. I can't wrangle those beasts alone for their winter slumber."

Biting back a smile, Ginny heard the grumbling of a Professor slotted for work she felt belonged to another, specifically the Potions department.

A note by her plate during Sunday morning's breakfast instructed her to bring all of her protective gardening and potions gear in preparation for the section she would be blanketing. Ginny extricated herself from underneath Dean's arm and walked to greenhouse five with Neville.

She thought nothing of the fact there were dozens of students milling around the glass sanctuaries. The smallest headed immediately to the few closest to the castle, but Neville led her towards the very last two. He was completely at ease with his surroundings, she thought, a marked difference than when they'd attended the Yule Ball together. The thought made her smile softly, even as he nearly skipped down the path in anticipation.

A muted laugh in the distance had her straining around him to identify the other students. Of course, one of them was Malfoy, but he was content to stand far to the back of the cluster. He didn't look pleased to be there. He didn't look pleased often anyway in her presence.

The girl who'd laughed tossed her freshly plaited hair over her shoulder, still laughing, with a flash of teeth beneath coral lipstick - _really, who wore makeup to a greenhouse_?

Greengrass. She was tall, and wiry, like a lamppost with her all black outfit and bright blonde hair. Ginny tried not to scoff too loudly as Daphne used her wraith-like fingers to twist her hair atop her head, tying a scarf over the entire arrangement. The girl was daintier than Luna! How was she invited to work with the other Quidditch players on the largest plants on the property?

Hours into the labor, Professor Sprout called a halt for a break for lunch, which was served in the empty greenhouse holding her office. Ginny grabbed a significant portion of sandwiches and fruit before searching for a place to sit. Neville didn't notice her pointed look; he was watching Luna recount a story with utter fascination.

Blowing a bit of hair out of her eyes with an annoyed huff, she took her plate down to a relatively empty part of potting bench turned dining table.

"Mind if I…?"

Ginny turned at the question, looking up into the sharp features of Daphne Greengrass. With her mouth full of a cucumber sandwich, all she could do was nod and scoot down a bit.

Blessed silence passed between the two girls, with Ginny wondering to herself how she hadn't gotten a _speck_ of dirt on her clothes while she was wearing a second set of robe-shaped dirt.

"I could do your hair up, if you'd like?"

The question floored her, and she paused in the middle of wiping her hands with a now soiled napkin. An insult was prepping itself on her lips but she shoved it back behind her teeth as she saw the open sincerity on the girl's face.

"You were brushing it out of your face all morning," Daphne explained. "That's why you've gotten all that dirt on your forehead."

With only a moment's hesitation, taking advantage of Ginny's temporary bewildered state, she popped up and pulled the elastic from the redhead's hair.

For a guilty moment, Ginny wanted to _purr_. The other girl's thin fingers were working expertly through the knots formed from her messy updo and her long hair was plaited into a dutch braid in minutes. She could see in the reflection in the glass opposite her when Daphne took one of her own bobby pins to pin the plait up away from her neck.

Without a word, the older Slytherin girl rested her hand on Ginny's shoulder briefly, then took her plate away towards the others.

Lying in bed hours later, Ginny studied the little pin Daphne had gifted her, the moonlight through her bed curtains making it shine and glint a bit. In the space a moment, her view on the definition of what it meant to be strong and feminine was entirely remade, and she was not sure what to make of it, but Ginny caught herself over the next year studying the Greengrass girl much more closely to find out what other guilty prejudices she didn't know she carried.


End file.
